By now, most of you who support the black and gold know that our defensive team captain and all-around stud Cam Heyward is out for the season with a torn pectoral muscle. You could literally hear the pain in Heyward’s voice on Sunday evening as he answered questions following the Steelers’ loss to Dallas. Despite the fact he won’t play anymore in 2016, what he did last weekend should serve as a significant learning experience for his teammates.
Unbeknownst to many of us, Heyward suffered his injury during the first quarter against the Cowboys. He would go on to play against one of the better offensive lines with what amounts to one arm for the rest of the game.
I would like to thank everyone who has been in my corner this season. It pains me to say that I… https://t.co/c4FzsBDf6r
— Cam Heyward (@CamHeyward) November 15, 2016
What Heyward powered through for three quarters plus is nothing short of amazing when you think about it. His resilience and toughness should serve as a major point of emphasis for a team that has been short on urgency, discipline and fight in recent weeks.
His effort and performance against Dallas should be the number one topic in that locker room as far as I’m concerned. Now that I’ve learned about what Heyward did, it pisses me off even more when I think of how Antonio Brown allowed himself to be pushed out of bounds on the final play. Rather than fight and try to get the ball to another Steeler, Brown just accepted the loss. This was the complete opposite of what Heyward displayed throughout the game.
Brown is an amazing player and has been a thrill to watch as a Steelers’ fan but that lack of urgency speaks volumes to me. What if every Steelers’ player had what Cam Heyward had deep down? Maybe this team wouldn’t be 4-5 right now. Perhaps they’d be the ones being celebrated as one of the hottest teams in the league but that’s a pipe dream right now isn’t it?
Heyward shouldn’t have had to play in pain and with one arm to prove a point to his teammates but maybe his actions will have served a positive purpose after all. Just maybe this team saw what toughness and urgency looks like and maybe it can propel them to get things going in the right direction.
Photo courtesy steelers.com
